Dancers hoof it in city festival

At least 25 Vietnamese dance troupes from the state and private sectors will perform at HCM City’s second Dance Festival this week.
The festival, organised by the HCM City Dancers’ Association, the Youth Cultural House and Sai Gon Media Co, will feature 65 performances of folk, traditional and contemporary dance at the Cultural House hall on Thursday and Friday.
A panel of judges will award 42 medals for the best performances, including five A prizes, 10 B prizes, 12 C prizes and 15 prizes for encouragement. The awards ceremony will be held on October 25. The organisers said the dance festival was organised to create a playground for professional dancers and provide a forum for the advancement of dance in the country.
The festival was organised for the first time by the HCM City Dancers’ Association and the Youth Cultural House in 2007.
At the beginning of this year, Viet Nam’s first-ever solo dance show Vu (Dance) by young dancer Linh Nga, who graduated in dancing performance from the Beijing Institute of Dancing last year, was held in Ha Noi.